arrival in tokyo
My flight left JFK on Monday, 2 August, only a little bit after noon, but it wasn't until 14 hours and 6800 miles later that I arrived at Narita Airport, 60 km from Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday, 3 August, at 3:30pm. A long flight across many timezones and the international date line left my sleep schedule in confusion for a couple of days.
Ever since my first experience in a plane as a little kid (a single engine Piper), I haven't liked flying at all. Having logged over 13,000 miles in the air over the past couple of weeks hasn't really changed that. My flight to Japan, however, was a United Boeing 777, which, I admit, is a very nice airplane, nine seats across (in economy), complete with individual video monitors built into every seat, with a number of channels to choose from.
The airline food, of course, left something to be desired and I ended up declining the third meal, hoping to fare better once I had landed.
Narita International Airport, though smaller in size than either JFK or Philadelphia, is nevertheless a very nice airport and much more attractive and well laid-out, with some interesting architectural details:
I was met at the airport by Berek, who I hadn't seen since he left Philadelphia over a year ago and who, after living with us for 5 months, both Laurel and I have missed very much. Thus, it was great to be met by a familiar face so far from home and in the oddness of a non-european context. It was also nice to be able to withdraw some cash in yen from my own bank account at the airport Citibank ATM, thereby avoiding currency exchange fees.
From Narita Berek and I decided to take an express train to Tokyo, since the next bus didn't leave for over an hour and the train would be much faster. On the train ride I was able to get my first look at the Japanese countryside, full of the ricefields that one finds throughout the nation, outside of cities, wherever the land is flat:
Apparently 70% of Japan is uninhabitable due to mountains and other natural features, contributing thereby to the overall population density and the fact that, despite the number of ricefields, Japan is unable to produce enough rice domestically to feed their population.
Once in Tokyo, we continued on the Narita Express to Shinjuku, a large urban center of shops and skyscrapers on the western side of Tokyo's downtown. As we exited the train station I was able to get my first look at what struck me as typical Tokyo, with its proliferation of lighted signs and advertisements:
Since I had skipped my meal on the plane, I was getting hungry and we decided to look for a place to get a quick bite to eat, finally settling on a corner noodle house where Berek was able to translate the menu options for me. By this point it was evening and the sun was beginning to set over the streets of Shinjuku:
After eating and a bit of poking around, we boarded a Chuo line train westwards towards Koganei where the Smith family lives in a nice, though compact, three bedroom apartment. The train was quite full of commuters headed home from work, advertisements fluttering over their heads as they napped or read manga or played games on their cell phones:
While the average height of the Japanese is increasing (as it has over the past century among Americans), even an ordinary-sized American like me could, for the most part, peer over the heads of other riders.
Once I had settled in at the Smiths, checked my email, and unpacked a few things, I was able to spend a quiet evening getting to know them better, drinking beer, and finally getting some much needed sleep.
(continue to next post: kichijoji, day one)
Ever since my first experience in a plane as a little kid (a single engine Piper), I haven't liked flying at all. Having logged over 13,000 miles in the air over the past couple of weeks hasn't really changed that. My flight to Japan, however, was a United Boeing 777, which, I admit, is a very nice airplane, nine seats across (in economy), complete with individual video monitors built into every seat, with a number of channels to choose from.
The airline food, of course, left something to be desired and I ended up declining the third meal, hoping to fare better once I had landed.
Narita International Airport, though smaller in size than either JFK or Philadelphia, is nevertheless a very nice airport and much more attractive and well laid-out, with some interesting architectural details:
I was met at the airport by Berek, who I hadn't seen since he left Philadelphia over a year ago and who, after living with us for 5 months, both Laurel and I have missed very much. Thus, it was great to be met by a familiar face so far from home and in the oddness of a non-european context. It was also nice to be able to withdraw some cash in yen from my own bank account at the airport Citibank ATM, thereby avoiding currency exchange fees.
From Narita Berek and I decided to take an express train to Tokyo, since the next bus didn't leave for over an hour and the train would be much faster. On the train ride I was able to get my first look at the Japanese countryside, full of the ricefields that one finds throughout the nation, outside of cities, wherever the land is flat:
Apparently 70% of Japan is uninhabitable due to mountains and other natural features, contributing thereby to the overall population density and the fact that, despite the number of ricefields, Japan is unable to produce enough rice domestically to feed their population.
Once in Tokyo, we continued on the Narita Express to Shinjuku, a large urban center of shops and skyscrapers on the western side of Tokyo's downtown. As we exited the train station I was able to get my first look at what struck me as typical Tokyo, with its proliferation of lighted signs and advertisements:
Since I had skipped my meal on the plane, I was getting hungry and we decided to look for a place to get a quick bite to eat, finally settling on a corner noodle house where Berek was able to translate the menu options for me. By this point it was evening and the sun was beginning to set over the streets of Shinjuku:
After eating and a bit of poking around, we boarded a Chuo line train westwards towards Koganei where the Smith family lives in a nice, though compact, three bedroom apartment. The train was quite full of commuters headed home from work, advertisements fluttering over their heads as they napped or read manga or played games on their cell phones:
While the average height of the Japanese is increasing (as it has over the past century among Americans), even an ordinary-sized American like me could, for the most part, peer over the heads of other riders.
Once I had settled in at the Smiths, checked my email, and unpacked a few things, I was able to spend a quiet evening getting to know them better, drinking beer, and finally getting some much needed sleep.
(continue to next post: kichijoji, day one)
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